


those weak and drunken hearts

by holtzghostgirl



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: And More Fluff, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Holtzbert - Freeform, and a douchey guy in a bar who doesn't really get the word no, and mild homophobia, drunk ghostbusters, tw homophobic slurs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-09 20:10:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7815427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holtzghostgirl/pseuds/holtzghostgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ghostbusters are on a group night out a local bar. Erin gets hit on by an asshole, further events ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing too much Holtzbert and probably shouldn't have done this too but I couldn't stop myself. Here is the result of my lack of self-control, it's very fluffy.

They’re at a bar and it’s starting to get late, and maybe everyone has had one or two too many. 

Patty has found a man that she thinks looks like Bill Clinton, and that is apparently the most hilarious thing in the world to her because she keeps very loudly yelling “hey Bill!” at him every five minutes, and cackling after. The man seems less amused.

Abby is trying to explain to Kevin that despite the fact she holds the title of ‘Doctor’ she cannot make Mike Hat’s ‘tummy troubles’ go away. Plus, he should see a vet for that stuff, and no, no, Holtzmann and Erin’s doctorates don’t mean they can do it either. 

Kevin seems disappointed for about 0.2 seconds, but recovers quickly after Holtzmann challenges him to chug his beer. It turns out Kevin is great at chugging beer because he finishes his, and also her own drink, in the space of a minute. Holtz slightly regrets trying to cheer him up after that but at least Kevin is happy.

Erin has just finished her third cosmopolitan and so she kindly offers to get more drinks. Only she, Holtzmann and Kevin are ready for another so she goes up to the bar on her own. There is just the slightest sway to her step, but she’s probably not feeling her drink as much as some of the others clearly are. 

It’s been a good night though, and after a couple hard jobs over the last week they deserve this.

After a mere moment of waiting by the bar, a man sidles up to Erin and runs his eyes over her body, before he even says hello. She’s wearing a short, sleek, black wrap dress, and it is maybe one of the ‘sexiest’ things the scientist has ever owned.

Patty helped her pick it out, insisting she needed a wardrobe shake up and praising herself constantly afterwards because Erin looked ‘bomb as hell’. Even Erin has to admit it’s been making her feel pretty good. Or at least up until now it has, because she’s starting to feel a little exposed. The guy is staring at her chest as if he’s hoping to develop x-ray vision. It makes her skin crawl. 

“Those your friends?” He asks pointing to the group who are some way back around a booth, his voice slurring a little. Erin nods wordlessly as he leans in closer. She isn’t sure what to do exactly because she has never really been approached in a bar like this and it’s pretty sudden.

“That big guy your boyfriend?” His breath smells strongly like beer, and she can only smell it because he is getting way closer to her than he should be.  
She could almost laugh at that suggestion, if she wasn’t starting to feel cornered. 

“No, um, but I’m not—“ Erin’s eyes are scanning for an escape route.

The guy waves a sloppy hand as if to shush her.

“Let me buy you a drink. You’re gorgeous, they won't miss you too much." 

“No. Thank you,” Erin says firmly, suitably curt. She hopes that will be the end, looking hopefully across to the bartender who is still busy and inwardly praying her serves her next. He does not.

“Hey now. Hey hey… your mother never tell you it’s rude to turn down hospitality?” The guy is still not letting up, and he is moving in closer so that their arms touch, it is overwhelming, “I just wanna buy you a drink. Why don’t you tell me your name? I’m Paul.”

It seems that Paul is intent on fulfilling every creepy guy at a bar cliché in the book. Erin is trying to look anywhere but at him, however in such close proximity it’s near enough impossible. 

Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone, she silently wills him. Refusing to be intimated into not getting the drinks but also wanting to run.

Abby and Holtzmann have just been talking about their survival strategies for a zombie apocalypse scenario. Holtz’s suggestion of a large treehouse shelter with built in defences has gone down well. 

Kevin is particularly excited, and now hopes the zombies will take over shortly. He likes treehouses.

Patty first notes that Erin has company. However, she is a little too drunk and optimistic to realise it is unwelcome.

“Woo Erin’s getting laid tonight!” she announces to the group like a proud mother. There’s a pause, and then a moment of self-analysis before her own natural after-thought is added: “Maybe I should talk to Bill Clinton too. It’s been a while and I always wanted to date a president.”

“Ew, Patty,” bursts out Abby in disgust, too tipsy and distracted by that remark to check out Erin’s situation, “Bill Clinton is not attractive and that guy isn’t even Bill Clinton. As your friend I support you, and you can do whatever you want, but… seriously?”

“Yeah, and he’s like really forgetful with his lovers. Like when he forgot that woman he cheated on his wife with.” Kevin chimes in, looking proud to know that bit of trivia as a non-American, “He’s a real silly guy, I wouldn’t go there.”

Abby affectionately wonders for the millionth time how their man-child receptionist can be so naïve. She and Patty quickly break down into laughter, unable to handle the conversation any longer. Kevin smiles like he knows why that was funny. 

“Yeah I guess you have a point there, baby.” Says Patty, as she wipes tears of laughter from her eyes, and Abby is red in the face trying to catch her breath back before one of them inevitably sets them both off again. 

Holtzmann has remained zoned out for the majority of the conversation. She is clutching her empty glass and staring over at the bar. There is an empty spot where Erin had been sitting beside her, they’d had this great conversation earlier about a new ecto-blaster. It was nice.

The guy certainly is very close to Erin, and she can’t seem to stop herself watching them. She isn’t sure that the physicist is into it, and maybe her need to check is also more self-invested than she’d like to admit, but her concern is sincere. 

“Holtzy, you alright?” Asks Patty, and she nods silently too distracted for anything more. Patty and Abby exchange a look.

Her doubts are confirmed quickly, because in the next moment she catches a view of Erin’s face and she can read the discomfort in it across the room. Has studied that face enough times to recognise a cry for help. 

Erin tries to move back a little, and the guy steps along with her with the ease of a predator following prey. Suddenly, the engineer is on her feet and wading through clusters of people towards them. She hates people who don’t understand the word ‘no’. 

Erin feels a warm leather clad arm slide securely around her waist. She jumps the slightest bit at first, but quickly realises that it belongs to her colleague. There is a rush of relief and gratitude at that knowledge. A sense of comfort in the fact that she won’t have to deal with this guy on her own anymore.

“Hello.” Erin greets her with a small but grateful smile as she looks at the engineer. 

They briefly lock eyes and Holtzmann feels a rush of something chemical. The same feeling she always gets, when they’re on a job and the physicist smiles at her before blasting a ghost into oblivion. 

“Hey there you,” she replies, with the unrestrictedly doting smile and eyes of a tipsy girlfriend, almost too convincing, “I was just missing you over there and thought I’d come getcha.” Holtz is good at this act; and she feels she might as well lay it on thick so the guy really gets the message. 

Erin has quickly caught on, and she’s leaning into Holtzmann now, as if they do this all the time. The proximity allowing her to catch her scent, motor oil and an inviting musky sweetness, subconsciously inhaling more than of it than she needs to. Which would maybe make her feel weird if her typically nervous energy wasn’t so smoothed out by liquor and how nice this is. 

It’s a simple case of: this guy is bad, Holtzmann is good. That’s what she tells herself.

“Who’s your friend?” butts in Paul, trying to break up the bubble that seems to have formed around the women, with a scowl directed at the blonde. He is clearly offended by the shift in Erin’s attention, but not backing off at all. God the guy has some nerve; that or he is really very desperate.

“I’m her girlfriend, actually.” Holtz replies right off the cuff with a suitably faux oblivious amount of friendliness in her tone, she rests her head on Erin’s shoulder affectionately. Luckily, the bar is too dimly lit for the physicist’s blush to show too much.

Paul gives an incredulous piggish snort. But maybe he believes her a little, because they actually look like a couple in their honeymoon phase. Still, he won’t go down without a fight.

“In your dreams maybe… and I’m the wizard of Oz,” he smirks clearly proud of that line, and the engineer rolls her eyes at his feeble attempt at an insult. “She’s too pretty to be a dyke, but nice try. You, on the other hand, do look the part. What are you like the token lesbian bodyguard?” 

That last bit actually does hit a chord with Holtzmann, and ordinarily she wouldn’t do anything about it beyond laughing him off, aware that the guy is a waste of oxygen anyway.  
Perhaps, it is the alcohol in her bloodstream, or the fact that on this occasion it involves Erin, but this time she actually feels pretty mad.

She’s gearing up as if she might fight Paul, all five foot four of her vs this stocky six foot two man. Erin only realises this as Holtz lets go of her waist and starts squaring up to him. The bar is loud and her head is fuzzy and this all happening so fast.

She grabs Holtzmann’s hand and tugs her back, gently but urgently. They’ve been having a great night, and she won’t have it ruined by this asshole nor will she allow Holtz to get hurt. 

Erin juts her chin out and raises her eyebrows at Paul. Which is so un-Erin any other day of the week, but now she feels powerful and like she can maybe do anything.

“I think you need to get the hell away from us,” she states with all the calm authority she was previously lacking, Paul stares at her in blank surprise, “because I don’t think you could come anywhere close to how incredible my girlfriend is, and I’m not even at all interested in anybody who isn’t her. Especially not you.” 

Erin’s sort of buzzing with the energy of it all, it feels good to say that stuff and her confidence is skyrocketing. Maybe because it’s almost all true.

Miraculously, Paul takes the hint that he isn’t wanted, somewhere between those words and the way Erin is staring him down. Wordlessly he turns and leaves, clearly too startled by the sudden confrontation and too embarrassed to try to retaliate. 

“Did you see his face?” Erin laughs, thrilled with herself. She’s never stood up for herself like that and god she wishes she had done so much sooner. 

Holtzmann is pretty surprised by the outburst too, but it’s a pleasant kind of surprise tinged with awe. Maybe she is imagining it but Erin’s sort of got this extra glow to her tonight. 

That dress she has on is nothing like her usual attire, and Holtz loves those tiny bowties, has asked to borrow one more than once, but she can’t help but notice how good it looks. How it clings in all the right places. 

She's been noticing all night actually, and Abby has been noticing her notice too. She’s not really sure how she’ll live that one down later. As if her 'crush' on the other woman hadn’t caused her enough mental turmoil.

“You did great kid,” she grins proudly, and it's only then that she notices their hands are still intertwined and reluctantly she lets go, “you didn’t even need me.” Erin opens her mouth to argue against that, but the bartender has finally made his way over to them and so they order another cosmopolitan, a beer and a gin and tonic. 

When he’s poured their drinks he also brings two shots of vodka.

“I was gonna ask that guy to leave right after I was done serving them,” he says to Holtzmann gesturing to the group across the bar, “I’m sorry I couldn’t get over here sooner, but your girlfriend seemed to have it covered in the end. These are all on the house.”

He smiles as they thank him.

“You make a lovely couple by the way.” He calls back as he moves onto the next people waiting, and they seem to pretend as though he hadn’t said it. Instead, they each take their shot.

Holtzmann feels a warm buzz as the vodka hits her stomach. They both make faces at the taste, her own is a little overly dramatic. Erin laughs. Mission accomplished.

And for some reason after they bring the drinks back to their booth, Holtzmann and Erin decide they want to do another one. 

Which quickly turns into a third.

And that turns into Holtz dragging a laughing Erin by the hand to the dancefloor. 

Abby and Patty and Kevin leave them to it. Wondering if tonight will be the night those idiots finally have the big realisation. 

Even Kevin knows at this point. They start taking bets over how long it will take.

The music is pretty awful, just some kind of electronic thumping but they’re past the point of caring. Erin must be really drunk because she’s dancing enthusiastically with Holtzmann, who encourages her by laughing and whooping.

“Doctor Gilbert, slow down. I can’t keep up with all your moves.”

Their fingers are twisted together and they’re sort of windmilling their arms around, like complete dorks. It’s the most ungraceful thing in the world. But so much fun.

They keep stumbling into each other until they just give up on doing anything that ambitious.

Their heads are resting against each other’s and the music and lights are all a blur in the background. Erin thinks about how much she really likes Holtzmann, and how her life is so different now that she’s in it.

And she wants to say, ‘he was right, we do make a good couple’, but the music is too loud and the words won’t come.

At one points their lips are so close, they almost touch. The kiss so reachable that they can almost taste it. But of course, in a timely fashion, the music changes and breaks the spell.

It’s ‘Crazy in Love’ by Beyoncé and Erin claps her hands in approval. She’s always been a secret Beyoncé lover and her drunken mind is too fickle not to be distracted.

At the end of the night, Kevin has made twenty bucks because both Abby and Patty had expected the penny to have dropped before they left the bar. 

The Ghostbusters head home all together. 

Kevin’s place is the first stop the taxi makes, shortly followed by Abby’s and the other three get out to walk from there because it’s really not far for any of them.

Patty leaves them first, hugging them both tight before she heads up into her apartment building. She gives them a curiously lingering look before she heads inside.

Then it’s just Holtzmann and Erin, arms linked, stumbling along under the light of the street lamps.

New York isn’t quiet at night, the city that never sleeps, but it’s definitely more peaceful. 

“I’ve had a lot of fun,” Erin mumbles, almost disappointed that the evening is drawing to a close.

“Well, I always knew you were a firecracker Erin,” says Holtz and she hiccups, and then laughs at herself.

Erin giggles too. They’ve been laughing most of the night, almost always for little good reason.

“Hey, thanks for helping me with that a—whatshisface awful guy,” she says, “you helped a lot.”

Holtz snorts.

“You did it all by yourself, Erin Gilbert,” she insists. They’re nearly at Erin’s building and she starts to slow her pace.

“No, no,” Erin refuses to agree, “you made me feel so much more... confident.”

They’re standing outside the door now, and Holtzmann’s letting her arm go. It makes her own arm feel cold in the places they had been touching.

“Nah, I was just there lookin’ pretty. Which you were also doing a lot of tonight. In that dress. I like it, by the way. I like the bow ties. But I like the dress a lot, it’s all… you know. I liked tonight. Erin. I think I just like you.” 

She’s awkwardly mixing up all her words but it doesn’t matter.

Erin’s smiling at her, with the kind of smile that practically begs to be kissed.

“Not tonight you,” Holtzmann says, pointing her finger in an accusatory fashion, “I promised myself, if we… if we ever did it would not be—“

She stumbles slightly as Erin determinedly reaches for her, hands curling into fists as they clutch her jacket collar and pull her in. Apparently, the physicist is not a fan of that idea.

There are a few clumsy seconds when Holtz first feels Erin’s lips press to her own, the curves of her soft edges meeting her own jagged lines.

Her head even more dizzied by it all, she eventually lays a hand at that perfect spot right at the small of Erin’s back and relaxes a little. 

The whole entire world might as well have stopped, just for a second. 

The kiss tastes like their night. Tinged with vodka and an unmistakable sweetness. 

They pull apart and Holtz sighs. The night air is cool on their cheeks. Erin’s hands are still holding her by the jacket, tight like she's not ready to let go yet. 

“We make a good couple.” Erin murmurs, looking shyly down at the pavement and she thinks that she could kiss Holtzmann all night but fair's fair. 

She’ll let her keep a bit of her ‘promise’ (the fact that the idea had even vaguely existed before a complete novelty to her). She eventually starts gently releasing her grip.

“Tell me that again tomorrow.” Holtz dares her, she leaves a soft peck on the other woman’s forehead, shutting her eyes briefly as she lingers a moment longer.

Then she turns to finish the journey to her place, digging her hands into her pockets. Giddy and drunk and almost certainly a little in love.

Erin watches her a moment, almost in disbelief. 

When she makes it to her bed all she wants to do is pass out, but instead she texts Holtz with spelling so bad it’s hard to believe the woman has a degree of any kind. 

But the engineer will understand what she means when she reads it in the morning.

‘I don’t want to forget tonight’ it means.

They go on their first proper date two days later. The science museum, of course.


	2. give me your hand and I'll hold it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holtzmann and Erin go on their first date to the science museum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was totally not going to write more of this and then I did. Oops.

[TEXT] Erin: There’s a new exhibit at the science museum actually.

[TEXR] Erin: I was thinking we could go after work tomorrow.

[TEXT] Erin: It doesn’t have to be like a date.

[TEXT] Erin: But it could be, I guess.

[TEXT] Holtzmann: Did you just ask me out first? ;)

[TEXT] Holtzmann: Gee sure sounds like a date to me.

[TEXT] Holtzmann: I can’t say no to the science museum. 

\-----

“So nothing else happened the other night? You guys just… walked home. Together. As friends.”

“Yu-huh.” A classic Holtz response for ‘I’m busy’ or ‘not now’ or ‘I’m not talking about it.’

She has parked herself with her back to Abby, working at the desk facing the wall, there’s a spanner hanging between her teeth because her hands are just so busy with whatever it is she’s doing right now.

Which seems odd, given that at lunch she claimed not to have any big projects lined up for the day.

Abby doesn’t even need to say she doesn’t believe the engineer, because that is clear enough from her tone. She folds her arms and narrows her eyes sceptically. 

For goodness sake, Erin had been humming when she arrived at work yesterday morning. Complete with bright eyed smile and textbook puppy love written all over her features.

Which was odd enough for her, but odder still given that she had previously been known as the human equivalent of grumpy cat post night out.

Holtzmann is apparently way too busy working on whatever it is to indulge the conversation any further. She may also be wearing a small irresistible smirk as she leans further in to ‘get a closer look’ (and totally not to hide her face).

As if to signal an end to the chat, she then turns on her stereo and starts blasting ‘Hip to be Square’ by Huey Lewis and the News. Singing under her breath as she works.

Abby lets it slide, for now, with a quiet huff of defeat. They have worked together for nearly three years now, and she can read Holtz like a book.

But she guesses she’ll just have to wait for this one.

“Any luck?” asks Patty, who is sitting at her desk flipping through a magazine when her co-worker descends the stairs from the second floor.

Another day is almost out, and so far they have totally failed to coin any information from their clearly-up-to-something friends. It has been two whole days since the night out.

Patience is wearing thin. Particularly given the fact that the Holtzmann-Erin scenario has been playing out before them for nearly six months now.

“Nah,” she replies and Patty clucks her tongue in disappointment, though she is not surprised.

Abby had honestly thought that one of them would have cracked by now, just like she would have sworn they were gonna kiss on the dancefloor the other night.

What a strange scenario to be in. Watching two of your best friends slowly come to a realisation practically everyone else has already made.

“Why don’t you just ask her out on a date already?” Abby had snapped at Holtz once, way back when she and Erin still weren’t talking. The engineer had always had so many questions about her, insisting that her parts of the book were too interesting to simply ignore.  
That was a remark that Abby now recalled with an ironic truth.

“They just need a little more time,” Patty states, ever the diplomat, “--and if they still don’t tell us anything after that, I might just tell them it myself. I can’t be living in a house of secrets, no way. They can't hide from Patty.”

"Or Kevin," chimes in the receptionist with a small wave of his fingers, from behind his desk, "I'm the best seeker in my hide and seek club. I’m also extra the best because I’m the only one.”

Extra the best indeed, thinks Abby.

\-----

Erin is standing in front of a mirror in her apartment, trying to figure out if she looks acceptable. Moving to see the different angles of her outfit. She's second (third and fourth) guessing her choice of dress. 

Which is ridiculous because she’s going on a date with Holtzmann, who has seen her in brown overalls, covered with slime, more often than she has seen her dressed nicely.

Still, doesn’t hurt to look nice, right?

This one is definitely not like the dress she wore the other night, it’s way closer to home. A light brown number, complete with long sleeves and mid-length skirt. It is both modest and smart, and those are usually Erin's only objectives with clothing. 

Usually.

She had nearly forgotten this sick-with-nerves feeling that dates can make her prone to, until now. It sure has been a while.

A date with Holtzmann.

The idea just doesn’t even compute. It is one of the most normal and ordinary things in the world that two people who like each other could do.  
Yet, she feels super weird about it, maybe because they're colleagues, or because she could never picture someone like Holtz being into someone like her.

Or maybe she’s afraid that she might mess it up, and she really doesn’t want to do that.

They might already have shared a kiss, but Erin’s memory of said kiss is pretty foggy.

She just about remembers Holtz walking away, and that warm close feeling right in the pit of her stomach as she stood there watching her go.

She’s been replaying the scene in her head again and again, like that VHS copy of Snow White she loved so much as a kid.

But if she were to wake up tomorrow and find that the whole thing had been a dream, the physicist wouldn’t be all that surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.

As a woman of science she, in particular, knows that real life doesn’t ever comply with all those fairy-tale ideals. 

She’s fussing, and worrying, and so distracted picking at herself that she only just hears the doorbell ring.

They’ve been texting for two days, even whilst at work, like teenagers exchanging secret notes in class. But texting doesn't even have a patch on the real deal.

When she opens the door Holtzmann is standing in the hall with this wonderful goofy pleased-to-see-you smile, and other than that she looks exactly as she always does.

Wearing practically the same outfit as earlier, just with an apparent change to similar but non-oil stained pants. She is, as ever, all laid back in her style and just so effortlessly herself. Blonde curls flopping naturally forward, in their signature do.

There are none of the mystical and weird formalities Erin had illogically assumed the word 'date' would force them into being.  
It truly reassures her. She remembers to breath normally again, for the first time in the last hour.  
“Hey, good looking. Fancy seeing you here.”  
Holtzmann is nervous too, way more so than she lets on, she’s just better at skimming over the feeling with words. They're a safety blanket, useful for smothering out anything that gets too out of control, just like unexpected lab fires.

Erin had kissed her the other night. In a total unexpected and drunken twist in events, that left her gay heart in a permanent lurch. She only hopes she can live up to that night again.

"Well hey yourself." Comes the physicist's late response, and Erin sarcastiscally wonders how she always manages to be so smooth. Holtzmann doesn't seem to mind or notice.

They share an apprehensive smile, but don’t waste much time after that, as they almost immediatley leave Erin’s immaculate apartment and hop in a yellow cab that whizzes them, across the city, to the New York Hall of Science.

It’s actually one of Erin’s favourite places in the whole world. But she doesn't say that out loud.

Right off the bat Holtzmann makes a beeline for the new ‘Exploring Space’ exhibit, like a heat seeking missile honing in. She grabs Erin’s hand, unthinkingly dragging her along, as if she's an eager kid heading for the biggest ride at the fair.

“You didn’t tell me it was a new space exhibit!”

It’s not exactly the kind of handholding one would expect on a date, but Erin is oddly endeared by that and Holtz's apparent passion for space.

“Oh my God, they’ve got a replica of the Eagle. I almost feel like Armstrong and Aldrin are here with us now. That is freakin’ awesome.”

Holtz lets go of Erin’s hand as she steps up to the rail and marvels at the replica lander for a moment. 

There’s a pure kind of excitement dancing in her eyes when she turns back.

“Hey so uh, I always imagined myself being part of the moon landing as a kid. I was so into it. My mum had all these old tapes about it. She loved that junk too—she used to call me her little alien girl cause we watched it all together… So I kinda just always assumed I was from space. For a while.”

Erin can’t help but crack a large grin at that.

“That makes so much sense.”

It does, so much so that Erin feels almost privileged to gain that snippet of insight into her background.

She’s observing her with curiosity written all-over her features.

Holtzmann makes a face. Shying from the limelight somewhat.

“Don’t laugh ok, I did. I imagined myself hopping up out a crater and waving at ‘em as they hit base. I was always drawing up my own designs for a craft to take me up there.”

“Oh yeah, I can see you doing that,” the physicist nods slowly, trying to straighten her grin and failing, “---and you do clearly like to make an impressive entrance.”

“You’re saying that from experience?” Holtz suggests, recalling the first time they ever met with a playful fondness.

Erin doesn’t say anything to that one. The words ‘I’ve heard terrible thing about you’ had plagued her thoughts for longer than she’d like to admit.

Now, she’s already pointing at the next display of rockets, a little way away. As she does she takes Holtzmann’s hand to lead her to them, and it’s in a soft much more ‘date’ way than earlier.

Holtzmann’s hands are rough and calloused with burn scars from her blowtorch. But Erin doesn’t seem to notice or care at all.  
It’s such a small thing, and yet it makes all the difference.

They wonder around the museum like that for some time. Hand in hand. Making nerdy jokes about exhibits, snickering quietly when other people are around and trying their best not to interfere with the displays (in Holtzmann's case).

Erin can pretty much still give the official tour, despite not having visited the place in a long while.

It is actually quite impressive, and Holtz wonders whether this location choice was a somewhat tactical one.

It’s working anyway.

Give this science nerd a museum, and truckload a load of knowledge, any day and you’ve won her over. Not that too much winning was at all necessary after the other evening’s events.

She has to admit she never pictured Erin making so many 'moves' first, and she likes it, a lot.

This date is surprisingly easy and comfortable, and not as nerve-wracking as that beginning twenty minutes or so were, when they were first sussing out how this would all work and how their dynamic could change.

The simple answer to that was that it would remain the same as ever. Of course.

Why complicate things any more than they need to be?

It’s so incredibly nice just to be together, hanging out away from work, and everyone else, and their various reservations.

At one point, they’re in the ‘Einstein’s Legacy’ section and Holtzmann has already tried correcting three passing tour guides because she doesn’t think they’re explaining things well enough.

Erin has to keep hurriedly rushing over and shushing her, because the tour guides don’t seem as keen on receiving her help as she is keen on giving it.  
“But they’re only telling them the crap stuff,” she complains, as Erin leads her away from another tour group by the arm, “how the heck are more people supposed to get into science if boring old dudes just—“

“I used to work here, you know.” Erin interrupts conversationally, skirting around a display case filled with some of Einstein’s original writings and pausing to look at them.

Holtzmann stops talking and looks at her in mild surprise. Her mouth hanging open somewhat in mid-speech, until she swiftly notices and shuts it. 

Not one ounce of attention is granted to the exhibit.

“Whaaat Erin, you didn’t think to say that earlier?” She replies, allowing herself an overly dramatic shudder as she lowers her tone to a whisper, “Were you, like… one of them?” She asks as if she's a survivor in a bad zombie movie.

Erin laughs gently and shrugs.

“Uhuh.” She responds, nonchalantly. “We had to do the tour from a script, it's pre-written. So it’s not their fault really.”

The engineer does have the grace to feel mildly awkward at that revelation. But, as ever, it only takes her a moment to recover.

“Nah, you’d still do a way better job than those shmucks. I’d totally be into a tour by you. Even a scripted one.” She may be a little biased.

The other woman glances up at her suspiciously.

“Why would you think that?”

Holtzmann takes her chance to smile, slow and playful with a wink for added benefit. A speciality of her’s.

Erin is still looking at her questioningly, waiting for her answer.

She rolls her eyes teasingly, as if Erin has missed an obvious point.

“Because you’re both super smart and hot, the dream package, who wouldn’t be into that?” She pauses for dramatic effect, “one might say you’re… out of this world.”

The physicist is shaking her head at that, but also laughing, and her cheeks are flushed pink.

“No way, you’re the alien girl. Remember?”

They’re about to move on when they find themselves interrupted by a very small girl with mousey brown hair, tugging persistently at the sleeve of Erin’s dress. 

“Aren’t you the lady in the picture?” She asks, staring up with these big innocent eyes full of a straightforward curiosity, that reminds Holtz a little of her younger self.

Erin is about to ask her what she means by that, and then she doesn’t need to.

“Holy parabolas.” Holtzmann murmurs, staring right across the room. There’s a collection of images printed on the far wall. It’s hard to make them out, at first, but now she can see light brown jumpsuits and some very familiar figures.

A distinctive red and white logo.

In the next moment they’re hurrying over there with the little girl in tow, and for some reason Erin’s pulse has accelerated far beyond what it should be.

‘Up and Coming Science’ reads the header, as they approach the display. Underneath that are rows of photographs of all of the team, mostly those taken by the press after some of the higher profile busts.

The captions have their names and very brief credentials. Even Kevin’s ‘Hide and Seek Champion, Melbourne 2013’ gets a mention.  
Erin almost forgets to breathe.

There’s a glass case underneath with a copy of ‘Ghosts from Our Past’. A replica proton pack, which gets Holtz incredibly excited, and jumpsuit. There are even printed accounts from some of the people they’ve helped out.

The last bit of text in the display reads:

‘The existence of ghosts has not been fully confirmed or dismissed by academic or government authorities. However, it is due to the ground-breaking work of the Ghostbusters that we are closer than ever to understanding the phenomena. It is hard to doubt that the team work hard to protect New York, and for that we can only offer them our thanks and continuing support.”

Beneath it is a picture of the New York skyline, from after the events with Rowan, when all the buildings were lit up with messages of thanks for the Ghostbusters.

Both women have been standing and staring at the display for several moments. Silent.

As she looks to the side Holtzmann notices how Erin’s eyes are now dangerously full and threatening to spill big heavy tears all down her cheeks.

This whole thing has caught her so entirely off guard, a recurrent theme, it seems, whenever she is with the engineer.

The little girl has run off, presumably, to get her mom and dad. Holtz is still watching Erin with equal measures of caution and curiosity.

Good tears or bad tears?

She’s never been great at deciphering these things.

But now she doesn’t need to. Erin is turning and enveloping her in an unexpected and all-consuming hug. She’s all limbs and floral perfume and hair.

Holtz briefly freezes in place, her expression comically caught out for a second before she relaxes into the proximity and feel of Erin’s chin lightly resting on her shoulder.

“I have to tell Abby.” The brunette mumbles softly, obviously awed. 

Holtzmann knows this is a particularly big deal for Erin and her high school best friend. That being believed was always their deal (particularly Erin’s).

Holtz was always the little alien girl; she didn’t mind living with the knowledge that she belonged to another planet. It made her special and unique and worthwhile, and her mom had made sure she knew it all the time.

It wasn’t always easy, but it was something she’d grown to embrace.

Erin hadn’t always been a ghost girl, and then one day she was. Suddenly, lonely and isolated and trying to join in among people who refused to accept her as one of them. Even her own parents had failed her there.

The thought makes Holtzmann feel a confusing mixture of anger and sadness and pride. It is upon this base of strange emotions that their second kiss occurs.

In the moment she finds herself turning her head and connecting her lips with the physicist’s. 

It’s a short and sharp and earnest kiss particularly in comparison to the first, it is less sweetly intoxicating and much more grounding.

Her lips are chapped and Erin’s taste like the coffee she had earlier. She has to reach up a little to compensate the height difference.

But it still makes the chemicals in her body explode and release with a nuclear fission she could never recreate in the lab.

For Erin, it is a welcome, unexpected, drawback to now. It’s a reminder of what has already occurred and an affirmation all at once. She’s not a ghost girl anymore, at least, not in the same way she once was.  
Holtzmann is here.

It’s over before she knows it, but she knows there will be more.

She can’t explain how, but she does.

There’s a gentle sigh from her as they part, and they linger in the close proximity for a moment.

It’s a good job they break apart when they do because their little friend is back all too soon.

However, it would appear that she wasn’t going to get her parents,after all. Instead she has another twenty-odd small kids with her, frantic and chattering and staring. They’re on a class field trip.

The young slightly flustered teacher arrives behind them, yelling for some stragglers not to wonder off. She looks like she’s had a bit of a rough day so far.

She introduces herself, in a soft irish accent, as Miss Cothair and apologises; the kids have been really interested in the Ghostbusters since they were first on the news. Holtzmann and Erin are more than happy to make time for them.

They end up sitting down by the display and giving an impromptu talk about their jobs and what exactly it means to be a Ghotbuster. Holtz does a lot of impromptu acting out of stuff for more ‘accuracy’ whilst Erin explains, the kids love it. Especially her impressions of various types of ghost.

Miss Cothair seems quite fond of the blonde too actually. Not that Erin notices (much).

Erin also gives a mini talk about ghosts, and how she used to be scared as a kid but that now the Ghostbusters are around none of them ever need to be. Holtzmann steps aside from that one, happy to watch and inwardly dying at how adorable the scene is.

All those little faces looking up at the physicist, totally absorbed by what she has to say. 

Somehow, they both end up offering the class a tour of the firehouse sometime. Holtzmann gives Miss Cothair their business card. Erin subtly expresses how they, specifically, would to hear from her. Holtzmann pretends not to be amused.

It’s a perfect end to their time at the museum, and as they wave goodbye to the kids they both have these big stupid smiles slapped across their cheeks.

“You’re good with kids.” Says Erin, gently elbowing Holtz in the side.

“You’re good with your lips.” She replies, waggling her brows in a cartoonish way.

Erin laughs, and predictably blushes.

“Don’t taint this pure moment.”

“Ah come on, what’s the point in having a moment, if I can’t taint it?”

The brunette is about to retort dryly, and then she makes a connection she should have made moments earlier.

It makes her feel more than a little stupid.

“How do we explain to the others that we met some kids in the science museum and saw a display about us, without saying why we were here?”

Holtzmann digs her hands in her pockets, she’s not the worrying type. Instead she merely shrugs.

“You could just say you came on your own, I guess.”

Erin frowns, that doesn’t seem satisfying and she doesn’t like it.

Plus, the kids will inevitably mention Holtzmann if they drop in for a visit. They really loved her.

Erin looks at the other woman thoughtfully for a moment, trying to think, and then she wrinkles her nose.

She doesn’t want to ruin right now with worries about telling their co-workers that they’re sorta-kinda-dating after their very first date.

“Let’s just go get some food,” she suggests instead, a little uncharacteristically carefree, “we’ll worry about that one in the morning.”

Holtz doesn’t think she even has the capacity to concern herself with future-Holtzmann’s problems right now.

“The morning, huh?” And she knows Erin means when they get to work, but she can’t resist making the remark.

Erin gives her a look of faux-exasperation, marred by the whisper of a smile.

“You wish you were that lucky.” She’s flushing. Again. This is becoming a highly recurrent theme for them.


End file.
